Summary

This bill amends The Saskatchewan Commercial Innovation Incentive (Patent Box) Act to remove the economic eligibility test requirement for corporations seeking tax rebates on income from patented innovations, and extends the application deadline from 8 to 10 years after the original act came into force. Most changes are retroactive to June 30, 2017.

Saskatchewan's Patent Box program offers corporate income tax rebates to companies that develop and commercialize patented innovations in the province. Currently, companies must pass both a scientific test (proving their patent is genuinely innovative) and an economic test (meeting at least two benchmarks like creating jobs, making capital investments, or conducting research in Saskatchewan). This bill removes the economic test entirely while keeping the scientific test. Companies will no longer need to prove they are creating jobs or making investments to qualify for the tax rebate, they only need to prove their patent is scientifically valid. The bill also gives companies two more years to apply for the program, extending the deadline from 8 to 10 years after the program started. The removal of the economic test applies retroactively to 2017, potentially affecting companies that previously applied or were denied.